Mission Bay High School’s (MBHS) athletic facilities are expected get a major overhaul in the coming year. An announcement will be made in December that MBHS will be among a select group of schools in San Diego County scheduled to receive a $75,000 grant through the Chargers Champions School Grant Program, which will go toward remodeling the school’s weight room.

“Receiving this award is a testament to the hard work and cooperation between the school and our parent organization, Friends of Pacific Beach Secondary Schools (FOPBSS),” said MBHS principal Fred Hilgers. “Without the diligence of Betsy Knight, this 8-year dream of revitalizing the school’s weight room would never have happened.”

MBHS principal Fred Hilgers stressed the new weight room will be open to all students to promote physical fitness, rather than just for use by the football team or any of the other MBHS sports teams. The purpose of the Chargers grant program is to assist San Diego County schools with meeting the basic physical fitness, nutrition and athletic standards of their students. The program is open to any public or private school in San Diego County.

The selection process involves the Chargers Champions program working with the county Office of Education to create a school selection team, which then reviews all grant submissions that have passed a first round of review. The first-round review involves making sure all applications are complete, submitted properly and making sure the grant proposal meets the stated guidelines of the program.

Following the first round, the selection team reviews applications based on their own merits and selects a group of finalists. The Chargers Champions School Grant Program dates back to 2000 and has selected about 100 San Diego County schools in that time span. High schools can receive up to $75,000, middle schools up to $40,000 and $30,000 can be awarded to elementary schools.

In addition to the weight-room remodel funded by the upcoming grant, Mission Bay High will be getting a new football field, scheduled to be installed next summer along with the possibility of field lighting.

“The new field will be put in next August, so it is going to be difficult because it will be around the start of next football season. The situation with the lights is still tentative,” said MBHS athletic director Jorge Palacios.

MBHS had been applying for the Chargers grant the last eight years, but could never get past the first read until Betsy Knight’s efforts made it possible this year, according to Hilgers.

“The MBHS community thanks the Chargers for their extreme generosity and to Betsy Knight for her tireless efforts to secure the grant,” Hilgers said.